Masculinity, Expectations, and Psychological Health
During World War I, Dr. Rivers works as a psychiatrist in the Craiglockhart War Hospital in Scotland, treating British officers in various stages of mental breakdown. As a psychiatrist, Rivers is in a position to closely analyze the various pressures that soldiers feel during wartime, not only from the battlefield, but from society. The most powerful forces in a soldier’s life, Rivers observes, are the narrow expectations of masculinity and what it means to be…
read analysis of Masculinity, Expectations, and Psychological Health
War, Duty, and Loyalty
Regeneration takes place in 1917, during World War I. Although Germany is already exhausted and wants a “negotiated peace,” Britain and its allies are committed to fighting for a more thorough victory. For soldiers fighting and dying in a war that could clearly be resolved—though it would not suit certain aristocrats’ profit margins or ideals—this raises the ethical dilemma of whether their sense of duty should compel them to sacrifice their lives for a cause…
read analysis of War, Duty, and Loyalty
Male Relationships
The majority of the characters in Regeneration are men, and the story explores the various relationships and affections that arise among them. Although the novel takes place in the midst of the horrors of World War I, several feel love toward each other as comrades, parents, friends, or even romantic partners. Although on the surface these relationships seem quite similar, prevailing societal and cultural attitudes celebrate some of these relationships while reviling others. These contradictory…
read analysis of Male Relationships
Trauma and Mental Illness
The horrific conditions of World War I and the advent of trench warfare created widespread trauma among soldiers. The horrors of the war led to widespread mental breakdown, referred to as “war neurosis” in Regeneration. This psychological affliction was also referred to as “shell shock” at the time, prior to the modern understanding of the illness as post-traumatic stress disorder. Although psychiatric doctors such as Rivers are commissioned by the military to…
read analysis of Trauma and Mental Illness
Alienation vs. Belonging
Having experienced so much chaos, violence, and trauma on the front lines in France, many of the soldiers in Regeneration have difficulty living in the civilian world in Scotland, feeling as if they no longer belong there or share anything in common with other civilians. The novel suggests that for many soldiers, their combat experience makes them feel alienated from society, leaving them with an intense need to feel that they belong to something.
Even…
read analysis of Alienation vs. Belonging
